the more pauline trigere clothes I see, the bigger a fan I am, so I was delighted when I saw this on etsy, and in a size 34. I thought I would give a go at the dress first, but as I am trying to make up these vintage patterns by upcycling, getting the sufficient amount of fabric wasn’t that straightforward, especially as the bodice takes a lot fabric than expected (its especially wide at bust).

I made 2 versions, the first one in orange was made to envelope size so I could get a sense of what the full design was like, and the second one in blue I made bigger in the skirt as I am a classic pear. the blue fabric was so light it had to be starched, and both dresses have short underskirts but I think the gathers are awful on the blue dress (so I dont know if its the starch, the underskirt, or just excessive gathers). It fits fine but the gathers are too much, and I am thinking of trying some soft tucks instead, but figure I should leave it for a while, and maybe a fresh look at it in a few weeks, the fit of the bodice is divine, and only 2 darts…..more at my blog

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It does look lovely in both colours. I was wondering maybe if your issue with gathers in the blue version could be helped by more careful gathering? I’ve found somewhere on the internet that you can make not just one or two but three lines of stitching to gather very precisely. I’ve used this technique ever since and let me tell you it works wonders and keeps the gathers really even and in place.

That said, maybe you could upload a photo of yourself wearing the dress? It looks really great on the mannequin and I can’t really tell why do don’t like it so much :).

Thank you Klara, I did three lines of gathering stitch – I probably would have done it anyway, but as it happens the pattern had the three gather lines helpfully marked on it – , but I do think its the excess of fabric at the waist gathers out more is making me more self conscious of my hip size, (its my blind spot at the best of times!) and I would not normally ever wear this style, (gathered waist) but I wanted to try this pattern out,. The orange skirt hangs better because of the fabric weight. I am also thinking as I prefer the fabric weight of orange one so much I might let out the side seams of the skirt at hip level a bit to see which works best…..

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